An Old Fox
by Nazazel
Summary: How Joel and Tess met for the first time (AU where the outbreak never occurred). Reviews would mean the world! Thank you.


She took a sip of that bourbon she was all too familiar with. The taste was the only thing that sent a chill down her spine after all these years and that's why she savored the whiskey…taking one sip every 15 minutes or so. She sat at her usual seat in the rundown bar she favored originally but now, doesn't really care much for. It was a routine; just like one would go grab a coffee after work, she would come here. She was an attractive older woman. With age comes maturity people say and well, looking at her, there's some authenticity to it. No one at the bar had ever seen her with her hair down. She'd always have it either in a ponytail or covered with a bandana. But just from looking at it, one could see that she had thick brown hair, with curls…lots and lots of curls. She had green eyes that would sometimes look grey when the light hit it in a certain way. Her lips were thin but beautiful. She was of fair skin and had a slender but tough looking build. You could tell that she'd been through a lot. No one knows what she'd been through but people know that she'd seen stuff that no human should have to see. The bartender was an older gentleman, probably in his mid-sixties or so. He had always treated her with superfluous kindness and charged her dangerously low prices for her drinks…one of the perks of coming to the same place for so many years one would assume.

One day, as this older woman took her usual seat with her usual drink, a young and rambunctious man approached her and took the seat next to hers. "Hey there," he said with a rather flirtatious smile. "What," she replied in an irritated tone. "Well now, no need for that acerbic attitude lady…I was just trying to start a conversation," he said, sounding a bit offended by her previous reply. "Yeah? Well don't," she answered coldly. "Heh…ain't you one of them feisty ones," he said chuckling. "Listen kid, instead of trying to hit on a woman twice your age, how 'bout you give that girl back there some attention?" she said shifting her eyes to the back of the room. There stood a beautiful but timid waitress. Noticing the stares coming from the young gentleman, the waitress quickly scuttled to her feet and tucked her hair behind her ear trying to avoid glancing at his direction. The mature woman let out a sigh. "Ah, young love…how innocent and untainted" she said shaking her head. The young man turned his head back to the older woman. "You think she really likes me? She is real cute," he said ecstatically. "Are you dense or something? Did you not notice the way she nervously averted her eyes once you glanced at her?" she asked pedantically. The boy gave a blank stare. "You really are stupid ain't you?" she said in a pissed off tone. "Instead of wasting your time trying to rekindle a blown out fire, go light hers," she continued, sipping her drink. "O-okay. Thanks Ms.…uh Ms.…I never actually got your name ma'am," he said with a smile. "I'm Ms. None-of-your-god-damn-business. Now go."

The young man got up from his seat and approached the waitress who was cleaning a rather filthy table. Her cheeks emanated a bright red shade and the gentleman smiled and greeted her. She did the same but with stutter which made the man chuckle. She then smiled and he began a conversation. It's funny…it took her the whole damn night to clean that one table.

The night went on and the young adults conversed and laughed. As for the older woman…she sat in her seat with her drink. Sipping and enjoying. Her routine was back to normal…no interruptions and no irritable communication. As the night passed, another man approached the mature woman. This time the man sat to her right. "Bourbon please," the man said smoothly. She glanced at him for a few seconds analyzing the greyish-black stubble on his chin and jaw line. He looked like he was in his mid-forties…about her age. He had short black hair with a few grey hairs here and there, brown eyes, and a rough build. "Hello young lady," he said taking a hold of his drink. "Hah...young you say? You need some glasses old hound?" she said with a noticeable grin. "Who you callin' old hound?" he said, returning a smile.


End file.
